My absolute favorite part of our trip...

was watching my girls spend time together and enjoy each others' company. That doesn't happen all that much lately, with the queen of moods. There was only one big negative for me on the trip (except for missing my babies at home dreadfully), but the girls' relationship more than overshadowed the negative. I always wanted a sister while growing up (still do), so I'm so very happy that my girls have a sister. Watching their sister relationship allows me to have a sister vicariously.

The whole Northwoods lifestyle that is so revered up in the areas where we were contain a lot of elements that are really hard for an animal rights activist to take. Fishing, hunting, fur trapping--the whole list of ignorant, violent redneck activities is pretty hard to take. I had to walk out of I don't know how many stores (some of which I would have happily made purchases) because they had animal heads mounted on the wall or sold pelts or some other disgusting exploitative ventures. That really, really sucked. It's a really good thing we bring our own food camping and aren't forced to find vegan food in restaurants, because it is not happening much up there. Once you get into areas like that, vegan food is pretty much limited to breadsticks, french fries, plain pasta, or salad (and I don't like salad). We ran into one unexpected little glimmer of light up there, though. While stopping in Minocqua on our way back, we ventured into some of the little shops--lots of neat antiques, imports, crafty stuff, etc., but again, many were too offensive to shop at. Right in the midst of dead animal alley, there was a unique little second-hand shop that advertised on the window a "Vegan Cafe". I was shocked and happy to see it. Unfortunately, it was only open two days a week, and it was not one of those days that we were there. I can't begin to imagine how a vegan could live up there without going totally crazy. Shit--it's more redneck than I can take here, most of the time!